YS-640 and Grill Grates

[Sweaty Paul]

So, finally a warm night in Western Kansas and decided to try the direct wood fired grilling with the grill grates on the Yoder YS-640 rather than take the steaks to the gasser (Saber) or charcoal grill.

Tonight I used the direct grilling feature. Reverse seared at 225 and then put in grill
grates and turned Yoder up to 450. Instead of putting grill grates in with small bars up to get "grill marks" I used them with the flat side up to optimize the opportunity for the Maillard reaction. Worked great, although, I clearly have to learn more about how all this is going to work. Ended with a great sear and even crust. Only problem was I over-shot a bit and ended with steaks more to the medium side of medium rare. They were, however, still delicious and juicy.

[Sweaty Paul]

Also need to work on food photography.

[DWCowles]

Perfect steak to me. Nothing wrong with those pics either.

[Jerod Broussard]

Pics stink, they weren't taken at my house.

[Henrik]

Looks real good!

[Butchman]

Looks very juicy and good, your grill grates look too new though! Cook more ....

[Sweaty Paul]

Working on it! 😃

[realdocBBQ]

Yeah, that looks like the maiden voyage for those grill grates! lol Mine are practically unrecognizable at this point! I need to take them off and scrub the hell out of them. It's just been so cooooooold. UGH!

[Sweaty Paul]

Was the maiden voyage which might explain why things went the way they did.

[jfmorris]

My 2 sets are black, like a cast iron skillet!

[Pirate Scott]

Looks Delicious

[Spinaker]

Looking good. Push some of that warm weather up here!

[Sweaty Paul]

Will do if it gets warm. Was 23 yesterday morning. Windy too. Winds Tuesday night were sustained at 46-50 mph.

[Dr ROK]

Great looking steaks. Do you have the two piece heat diffuser? Here's one of the tricks I learned from Yoder Herb on the Yoder pellet forum. Remove all the regular grates (leave upper shelf in) and put the GrillGrates in, but slide them all the way to the right (away from fire pot). Set cooker at 225. When in maintenance mode for 225, use the upper grate to start cooking the steaks. Cook at 225 till they reach around 105 - 110. Remove steaks from cooker and put under foil tent. Remove upper shelf (remember it's hot ), remove the diffuser door, slide the grill grates over the fire, close lid, and set cooker to 495. Once you hit 495 you are read to sear.

[Sweaty Paul]

That’s what I did. Two piece diffuser is a game changer. Think I will pull steaks at 105 next time instead of 110 as while the steaks are "resting" they increased in temp while the Yoder was coming up to temp. I cooked them at 475 with grill grates and I used the flat side for more browning like with a cast iron skillet.

[Dr ROK]

Flat side is definitely the way to go for searing things. The time I tried it for ribeyes, I believe it was 106 when I pulled them and they turned out great!

[Sweaty Paul]

Think at 105 with reverse sear I’ll get a better medium rare.